Boy, 15, loses hand in third week of French school protests

A teenager lost his hand during clashes between high-school protesters and riot police in Lens, northern France, on Monday, October 5, as the protest movement entered its third week, Pas-de-Calais prefect François-Xavier Lauch said. Regional newspaper La Voix du Nord reported that the 15-year-old lost his hand and part of his lower arm after picking up a police dispersal grenade that detonated. Lauch declined to discuss the precise circumstances of the injury, saying that around 200–250 protesters had been throwing objects at police. 

Up to 500 high schools close or partly shut

Around 400–500 of France’s 3,700 high schools were closed or partially closed on October 5, ahead of nationwide demonstrations called by the pupils’ union for Tuesday, October 6, over underfunding, overcrowding and deteriorating school buildings.

Students gathered outside Lycée Sophie Germain in Paris on October 5 to protest against overcrowded classrooms, teacher shortages and dilapidated buildings, blaming years of underinvestment.

The school protests began in Paris in September, focusing on poorer suburbs, before spreading nationwide. 

Education Minister Édouard Geffray said two dozen schools had been burned or ransacked and that 78 teaching staff and at least 190 students had been injured during the demonstrations. The government wanted classes at affected schools to resume on Wednesday, October 7.

BFMTV broadcast footage on October 5 showing police and students clashing in Lille, tear gas being used in Toulouse and people lighting a fire while trying to enter a school in central Paris.

Carole Zerbib, head of the vandalised Lycée Vauquelin in Paris, said a highly determined group wearing hoods and masks had tried to force its way through the entrance before starting a fire. The attack forced the school to evacuate and suspend classes.

“It was very violent and happened very quickly,” Lycée Vauquelin head Zerbib said, adding that she did not believe the attackers were pupils at the school.

Sami Karen, 18, who was demonstrating outside Charles de Foucauld high school in Paris, said pupils would maintain their blockades until the government responded. “As long as they don’t listen to us, we won’t stop this fight,” Karen said.

Police tactics face scrutiny over injuries to minors

Rights groups have accused French police of using excessive force against minors, including batons, tear gas and flash-ball guns.

Authorities are conducting several investigations into police tactics, including the case of a 16-year-old who suffered an eye injury after officers fired rubber bullets into a crowd, according to his friends. The Interior Ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment on allegations of excessive force.

France’s Justice Ministry said 5,060 people had been arrested since the unrest began, with minors accounting for 87%. More than 1,800 people were facing prosecution, including 1,483 minors, while 790 cases had been dismissed. The ministry did not specify the offences involved. 

Reuters separately reported 5,000 arrests since Monday, September 28, with teenagers accounting for 85%, and dozens of people injured. Teachers and members of the public had been attacked, while property damage was estimated at millions of euros.

Government proposes school measures and damage liability bill

Geffray said participation in the school protests had declined in recent days. Speaking after meeting students in the northern Paris suburbs, the education minister said the government would introduce a platform for pupils to raise grievances and an action plan for particular schools.

Government spokesperson Maud Bregeon told CNews television that restoring order was the government’s priority. Bregeon said a bill would be fast-tracked on October 27 to make young people found to have damaged property, or their parents, financially liable.

October 6 marches prompt fears of further violence

French security officials feared further violence at the October 6 demonstrations, particularly in central Paris, amid concerns that far-left and anarchist groups could try to take them over.

Sophie Binet, head of the General Confederation of Labour (CGT), told TF1 television on October 5 that union members would attend the following day’s demonstrations to protect students. “We’ve been appalled by what we have seen over the past 10 days and by the unprecedented crackdown that the government has organised,” Binet said.

President Emmanuel Macron’s government and the far-right National Rally, led by presidential frontrunner Marine Le Pen, have accused lawmakers and mayors from the hard-left France Unbowed party (LFI) of stoking the protests. The accusations come about six months before the election to choose Macron’s successor.

France Unbowed, headed by presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, denies encouraging violence or fuelling the protests. The party accuses the government of politicising the dispute and neglecting pupils’ interests.

The French government says the protests have been hijacked and turned into urban violence. The unrest has increased pressure on a government seeking to reduce its budget deficit as investors grow more concerned about public finances.
France’s 10-year bond yield briefly exceeded 5% in the preceding week, reaching a 24-year high and increasing the likely cost of future government borrowing.